I reread the Van Fair article and it did quote Sintons numbers as well as the "books". While the number of 67 was that quaoted for Conservative Talk Radio in general, there was nothing that singled out Rush audience being any younger. The article was more an expose as to how Limbaugh reinvigorated his sagging ratings after his statement that he wished obama would "fail".

rush is a douche, but he's funny, not as funny as savage, that guy is a scream

i wish the air america folks were as entertaining, but they are god awful boring

i used to enjoy listening to rush and try to pick the point when i thought he'd worked himself up to the point of an aneurism, sadly that never happened, but he seemed pretty close sometimes, so there's still hope i guess

0 Replies

McGentrix

1

Reply
Fri 24 Apr, 2009 08:33 am

@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

I reread the Van Fair article and it did quote Sintons numbers as well as the "books". While the number of 67 was that quoted for Conservative Talk Radio in general, there was nothing that singled out Rush audience being any younger. The article was more an expose as to how Limbaugh reinvigorated his sagging ratings after his statement that he wished obama would "fail".

Well, there ya go ehbeth. It wasn't about Rush, but right talk radio in general.

. we never wish illness or harm on anyone, no matter how we disagree. Rather childish of you. Try to reign in your passion a bit and keep civil with the curses and juju

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farmerman

2

Reply
Fri 24 Apr, 2009 10:09 am

@McGentrix,

No, the article was ALL about Rush with reference to HIS audience and its demographics. The entire article was about how Rush "ate the GOP" and by example had shown the methods used.
Read the article , go for a cc of Van Fair

No, the article was ALL about Rush with reference to HIS audience and its demographics. The entire article was about how Rush "ate the GOP" and by example had shown the methods used.
Read the article , go for a cc of Van Fair

Quote:

If you want to argue that Rush Limbaugh the radio sensation will soon crumble and fail, that he’s headed for a "last hurrah," would you sign up as your expert….an Air America executive? That’s what media critic Michael Wolff did in a Vanity Fair article on Limbaugh, "the man who ate the GOP." "Rush has power now, but soon he won’t:

Arguably no message apparatus like it exists in the nation, except, perhaps, at the White House (or in Oprah"whose position with American women is curiously analogous to Rush’s position with American conservatives). It is concentrated and extraordinary power.

Except that this power ought to be ending. It ought to all be on the wane. It is not just the Obama victory and the magnitude of his approval ratings. It is not just that the gravity of the economic crisis, with historic unemployment rates, means it’s a lot harder to get people excited about Reagan-and-Rush-esque hands-off government.

It is, rather, a crueler demographic point. The dirty little secret of conservative talk radio is that the average age of listeners is 67 and rising, according to [former Air America guru Jon] Sinton"the Fox News audience, likewise, is in its mid-60s: "What sort of continuing power do you have as your audience strokes out?"

You can begin to make plausibly large statements about the end of"or at least a crisis in"conservative media. "There are fewer advertisers, fewer listeners, shrinking networks, shallower penetration," says Sinton. "A lowering tide lowers all ships."

What’s more, it’s the Internet that is the fast-growing and arguably more powerful political medium"and it is the province of the young and liberal. The only sensible market view of conservative talk is that it will contract and be reduced, in the coming years, to a much more rarefied format."

If Sinton were such an expert, wouldn’t he still be "growing" Air America past Limbaugh’s audience? Barack Obama telling Republicans not to listen to that Rush junk put a crimp in liberal expectations, as even Wolff admitted:

"And yet, by the end of Rush Limbaugh’s fractious month of calculated outrage, his audience was back up to 20 million."

With Limbaugh at the top of his game, including a more deeply loyal audience than ever, the numbers were expected to be strong. The beginning of the Obamist era, combined with a direct White House campaign targeting the talk titan, however, provided rocket fuel for El Rushbo's ratings. Even to seasoned industry veterans, this data should prove stunning.

Finally, implementation of the new, far more accurate electronic Portable People Meter (PPM) ratings system has benefited talk radio, as the manual diary-based "phantom cume" problems of the past disappear. For years, programmers complained that the old system cost them listenership and are now armed with the proof they'd long sought.

That may be why Obama and his supporters have fought implementation of PPM, as we originally reported in October of last year.

While these numbers reflect February's results, they could go even higher in March, as the White House anti-Rush effort was still in high gear going into this month.

Some specifics:

In New York City, WABC has experienced huge gains during Rush's noon- 3pm timeslot: from 4.6 to 6.7 overall (12 and older) share, good for first place overall in the nation's largest market. Rush's Big Apple listenership is now estimated at 693,000.

In the second-largest market, Los Angeles, KFI-AM has surged into the number one position (all listeners 12 and older) from 9am to noon, with 618,000 listeners, a 4.6 to 6.0 audience share increase over three months and an even bigger males 35-64 (4.6 to 6.3) move, to take first place there as well.

Chicago, saw another huge move, with Rush affiliate WLS also taking first place during his timeslot (12 and older), from 5.2 share to 6.9 and a total local listenership of 396,700 in the third-largest market.

KSFO / San Francisco saw similar results, despite the extreme-left bent of the Bay Area: 4.7 to 6.0 share, now ranking second overall and with men aged 35-64. Total audience: 346,000.

Houston's results were truly blockbuster: 6.0 to 9.8 overall, ranking number one with a bullet and audience of 382,300. Men 35-64: number one again, from 8.6 to 12.2 over three months. Adults 25-54: first place, 4.6 to 8.7. Women 25-54: 3.7 to 8.3 again good for a top ranking.

DC's WMAL also saw Rush-related growth: 4.1 to 6.7, good for third overall and an audience of 155,300. Men 35-64: number one with a staggering 6.4 to 13.4 move.

In Atlanta, Rush has helped WGST fend off an enormous competitor, WSB-AM, with a similar 4.0 to 6.2 upward move, good for fifth place overall and a total audience of 473,500. The results are better in the male 35-64 demographic, surging from 5.5 to 8.0 share.

Bucking Detroit's recent Democratic voting trend, Rush's performance on WJR-AM has been more significant than ever, moving into first place with a 5.8 to 9.6 jump. Men 35-64: number one and 11.6 share. Total audience: 253,000.

Given this blockbuster data, will the White House think twice before targeting Rush again?

Keep in mind that these numbers don't even include Limbaugh's strongest markets, medium-sized cities such as Reno, Albuquerque, Boise, Fresno, Bakersfield and hundreds of others where his program dominates local radio.

UPDATE: Rush's surge has also led to overall, full-day gains at most of these stations, with WABC/ New York moving into fifth place overall, ahead of many music stations. That's its best showing in at least a year.

And it's more male than most commentators' audiences - "a male bastion."

But it's just 5 percent of the general public.

Since the sharp-tongued conservative launched his radio program in the late 1980s, "the market for conservative-leaning talk shows, like the broader news and talk universe, has grown much more crowded,'' the Pew Research Center notes. "Today, Bill O'Reilly's cable show (on FOX News Channel) attracts more conservatives on a regular basis than does Limbaugh's radio show, while Sean Hannity's program (on FOX) draws about as many conservatives as Limbaugh's.

"Yet by one standard,'' Pew reports, "Limbaugh's conservative appeal continues to stand out. In Pew Research's 2008 news media consumption survey, as in previous biennial news surveys, Limbaugh's audience was the most conservative. That is, conservatives made up a greater share of his regular audience than of the regular audiences for the "O'Reilly Factor," "Hannity & Colmes" (now called "Hannity"), or any of the 39 programs or networks tested.''

Eighty percent of those who say they regularly listenn to Limbaugh's show are self-identified conservatives, only 10 percent liberals and 7 percent conservatives - those 10 percent liberals must be spies.

The audiences for Hannity & Colmes and O'Reilly are solidly conservative, but not as conservative as Limbaugh's: 68 percent of regular Hannity & Colmes viewers are conservatives, as are 66 percent of regular O'Reilly viewers.

"It is important to note, however, that Limbaugh's syndicated radio show does not have the reach of O'Reilly's nightly cable program,'' Pew notes.

Among the general public, 10 percent say they regularly watch O'Reilly, compared with 7 percent who regularly watch Hannity and 5 percent who regularly listen to Limbaugh.

It is from interviews of listeners over 18 years supplemented by station programmers, hosts, and sales personnel.

It is not for Limbaugh but for talk radio in general.

The point remains that the Rush Limbaugh program is the most coveted program slot in all of radio, and those stations featuring Rush almost all, if not all, hold the No. 1 market share in their trade area. That alone would suggest that he doesn't have a mostly geriatric audience.

Our top local radio station was #3 here in Albuquerque. When some of us encouraged them to take on Rush--I first heard Rush out of Amarillo in the 1980's when I was frequently working on the east side of the state--KKOB radio in Albuquerque claimed the #1 slot within months and has held it since the late 1980's. They transformed from a news/music/weather/traffic report station to a news/talk station and have never looked back from that top spot. Love him or hate him, the advertisers don't ignore numbers like that and it has kept Rush on top for the last 20+ years.

Quote:

Limbaugh has been credited with reviving AM radio in the United States,[1] and was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993. (Wiki)